Mike D'Antoni Resigns: How Shocking Move Impacts Carmelo Anthony's Future
The Mike D’Antoni era is over in New York as Yahoo! Sports insider Adrian Wojanarowski reports via Twitter, with the Knicks head coach resigning after a five-game slide. This almost certainly means that the Carmelo Anthony saga will continue in the Big Apple.
Knicks assistant coach Mike Woodson will take over in the interim, Wojanarowski reported in a subsequent tweet, and will have the daunting task of making an Anthony-Jeremy Lin-Amare Stoudemire trio mesh coherently.
Anthony was never a good fit in D’Antoni’s system, and the Knicks' organization will likely move on with Anthony as the team's franchise player.
Anthony has been the subject of trade speculation as we approach the March 15 deadline, but with D’Antoni out, Carmelo trade rumors should come to a halt.
Woodson is the former head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. His contract expired at the end of the 2010 season and was not re-signed. Woodson led the team from 2004 to 2010 and was a critical part of the Hawks' rebuilding process.
When Woodson was with the Hawks, they ran an offense that involved a lot of penetration and off-ball movement by swingmen like Josh Smith and Joe Johnson. Anthony and Stoudemire essentially fit this bill, so it appears this is the better fit for the long-term success of Anthony.
Should Woodson struggle this season, however, he will likely be axed. New York is desperate to see Carmelo succeed at the Garden, and will make the necessary moves to ensure that he remains in a Knicks uniform.
